Why 'Sensintrovert'? Ramblings of a sensitive+introvert plus very sarcastic at most times; mostly about the happenings of his home yard.

Saturday, August 02, 2008

[Weekend Leisure Reading] Helen Ang Ponders Upon The Nut Graph

Helen was kind enough to e-mail me a reply to this post, and I asked her kind permission to publish this in which she kindly obliged.

Here's my take: Their backers pumping in money with no prospect of immediate returns. At this juncture, don't think they'll get ads.

With the editorial paycheques + technical + admin staff monthly for the operations to be running, Nuts be bleeding money. What do the investors want, aside from the squishy write-up mV did on KJ, Lee Hwa Beng, Shahrizat et al the last round?

From what I know of mKini & PP demographics, the hardcore political news junkies tend to be in the older age group & of professional background. And the nutty website name not likely to resonate with serious-minded readers. (Gotta give it to them that 'M'sian Insider' is a good shot at branding tho'.)

Two aspects to ponder on:

1. Are they trying to create a market (c.f. Blue Ocean strategy) or do they think they can tap into a potential vein of young readers interested in (whatever they selling)? Which reverts to M'sian demographics: are Gen Y really into politics? Gold mine or fool's gold?

2. Do people have the time for what they're offering? Even with mKini alone, I hardly have time enough to read all that they have nowadays; the pace of current news outstrips me.

3. And if I'm pressed for time to read straight news, do i have the inclination to read them "connecting the dots" for me, i.e. their explanation on what's behind the news?

4. This presumes a sort of readership, i.e. one that requires more astute "seasoned journos" to interpret, not write, the news. In order to trust their interpretation, one has to trust their integrity but from the way mVotes was conducted, that's doubtful. In terms of promo tho', Nut Graph is replicating Sun & mVotes self-advertising ... they can't get away from their roots.